schizoaffective disorder

[daffy]

Not quite sure whereabouts this should be put this. Ive been diagnosed with bipolar for years, but after my last episode, they have changed it to schizoaffective disorder now. They told me its not the same as schitzophrenia. but that they came upon the diagnosis because of the paranoia, hallucination and delusions i was suffering from.

Has anyone else on here been diagnosed with this

 

[Apotheosis]

All these labels are umbrella terms & don't explain anything that has any scientific or tangible basis.

I don't get the diagnostic system - I have been labelled with 'drug induced psychosis', 'psychotic depression' 'the resurfacing of an undiagnosed psychotic illness', & 'schizophrenia' & 'paranoid schizophrenia'. The MH teams have also suggested that 'it' may be 'Bi-Polar' or 'Scizo-affective disorder', at various times. I also had one psych say that it may be that there was nothing wrong (with the brain), that people can & do recover, & that a lot of these 'things' are part of human experience & the human condition - probably the only psych that has ever spoken sense; & probably true for all of us.

Personally - these labels cannot describe anything - the are prescriptive - nothing more. They are also largely meaningless IMO. The norm with people that I have known is to have had multiple lables, different diagnoses changed; depending on age, circumstances, & Doctors.

This isn't science - this isn't genuine medicine.

What happened to your Bi-Polar? Were you cured of that & have now contracted schizo-affective disorder? Or do you have both? Or had been been misdiagnosed.

Sorry - Orthodox psychiatry is to my understanding an utter nonsense.

I cannot fathom how anyone takes psychiatry seriously.

 

[daffy]

thanks for your reply apo. i do agree with a lot you have said. but it just irritates me when they take me off all the meds i have been on for years and change them to something else completly. I suppose in another five years they will change bit back again and change my meds back to what they were.

 

[Apotheosis]

thanks for your reply apo. i do agree with a lot you have said. but it just irritates me when they take me off all the meds i have been on for years and change them to something else completly.

All of it irritates me - from being forced meds to begin with - to the woeful lack of any kind of proper psychological or social help. It's a joke - all of it.

 

[Apotheosis]

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[falling_Free]

My diagnosis is schizoaffective disorder as well and has been for about 3 years now. I have periods of depression, mild paranoia , grandiose delusions, sometimes audio hallucinations and mood swings.

Best to think of how to deal with symptoms I spose rather than seeing yourself as a 'disorder' or 'label' though I think.

 

[pinkmetalgirl]

Hi

I'm another one of the very many of us who have been through lots of different diagnoses in the DSM.

Schizoaffective's my current label (although they recently added 'with dissociative traits' to it). I've also had schizophrenia, psychotic illness, bipolar, borderline personality disorder, depression and a few others that I can't quite remember.

Throughout all this time I haven't changed (well, no more than anyone changes as they grow and learn to deal with things differently). The diagnostic system is flawed to say the least. And yes, if a different diagnosis means a different plan of support and/or treatment - it's a little worrying.

Schizoaffective disorder, as diagnoses go, isn't a bad one. I think of it as the multivalue pack of mental distress. They're not pretending it actually exists as a biological illness, as far as I'm aware, but see it more as a grouping of 'symptoms' or experiences. These are, as you probably already know, the psychosis (ie voices, visions, unusual beliefs) and the mood swings (the bipolar bit). I think there's also a clause in there that means you have to have some of the psychosis when you're not experiencing the mood swings ... but I can't remember the exactness of that.

I was prescribed an antipsychotic, a mood stabiliser and an antidepressant for years with this (the idea, I think, was to treat each aspect of the thing).

Still, I honestly believe that it's more helpful for me to see my experiences in terms of what they are at that moment (and not worry too much about the diagnosis that may or may not change). It helps keep me rooted. I go up (the highs), down (the lows) and sideways (the psychosis). I also experience anxiety. I'm working out ways of dealing with all of them (yay).

A diagnosis made me feel better for the first year or so, but after that I realised that (for me) it was a much bigger burden than help.

Take care x PMG